“You can’t make a show consisting simply of penguins just being cute.”

Yes you can! I love the Penguins. I feel like they should be spun off into their own hilarious gag comedy series… like you wouldn’t want to see a slice-of-life comedy in the style of Potemayo and Mini-Goddess with the Penguins? It would instantly be the second-ranked thin slicing show for that season. You’re just not topping a bunch of over-the-top, mischievous penguins.

(Killer idea to make it even better. The Penguins move in with Kogarashi. You’re just not topping that combination. Not even Lulu and Rolo on a pile of Pizza Hut pizza could top it.)

Am I crazy to think that Penguin No. 3 could beat Kirei in a knife fight? Also, where does Kirei rank in “character re-use”? Higher or lower than Arc System Works for trotting out Ragna the Bloodedge… he’s not like Sol Badguy at all! He squirts blood, not flames!

(I just topped my Kogarashi idea. Let’s have the Penguins re-enact the Holy Grail War with No. 1 being Archer, No. 2 being Rider, No. 3 being Caster, and Esmeralda being Saber. Kogarashi would be the judge in this scenario.)

“I’ve come for you, O holy virgin.”

I enjoy this scene of Irisviel and Saber looking so serious in front of a Delorean. (I know it’s not a Delorean, but play along. Geez.) I was half expecting Libyan terrorists to drive by, gun Irisviel down, and scream, “Where’s the plutonium?!” Or we can adapt it to, “Where’s the O holy virgin?!”

Irisviel driving is adorable. She’s like Yukari-sensei, and Saber is like poor Chiyo-chan. The best part of this scene was me thinking, “Mmm… driving animation in anime hasn’t really progressed from Initial D. The 3D work still looks terrible.” Though it’s a damn shame we didn’t get Irisviel drifting. That would have been awesome.

(And why couldn’t Saber driver? Wasn’t she boasting that she could drive anything from helicopters to 747s to Emiya’s cock just a few episodes ago?)

Fuck you, and fuck your mage rules. We’re doing things my way. Emiya is pretty boss in arranging for Archibald’s building to be blown up. It does bring up a few points…

1. Between Penguindrum, Fate/zero, Eden of the East, Vampire Bund, and Guilty Crown, how many terrorists have blown up how many buildings in Tokyo? A shit ton. More than Godzilla. (And, really, terrorists have turned into our generation’s destructive boogyman zeitgeist.) Still, how many actual buildings have been blown up in Tokyo because of terrorists in the past twenty years? There’s a disconnect. Dear Japan, you’re not America. I can’t remember the last time I heard an Al Qaeda press release slamming those Japan infidels and how quickly they sold out of the 1/8th scale Mami figure.

2. No way Archibald or Lancer are dead yet. Gen Urobuchi doesn’t have the balls to kill off a major player this soon, which is a same because you gotta take chances to be a great series. Killing off a favorite early would have been awesome– and I did expect Tousaka-papa to bite it by now.

3. Emiya really loves Irisviel and his daughter to go to work like this– blowing up buildings, boning his assistant, and pimping a cell phone about 5 years too advanced for the Fate/zero timelime. I wonder if we’re going to see the Takakura family like this as well.

“Why must pleasure and sin be connected?”

Let me get this straight. There’s a pretty blonde boy in the private chambers of a Catholic priest, there’s plenty of merrymaking wine around, and they’re talking about sinning and pleasure. Nothing to see here. Move along, move along.

You just knew Ben-to was going to play the cross-dressing card at some point. And… uh… yeah. They did. I did enjoy Sen’s deadpan reaction to it, but I enjoyed Oshiroi’s crazed fujioshi ramblings more. Unfortunately, more wasn’t done with the cross-dressing… as funny as it was to see Satou dolled up, he didn’t seem to mind, which is an important aspect of forced cross-dressing. He was more concerned about scoring half-priced bentos than finding pants.

(Oh wait, I just got a telegram… “Pants are stupid.” Okay, that explains why.)

(Also, Satou has his cell phone despite his nakkid and seifuku ordeals. How does he lose pants yet not lose his phone? Also, his ringtone is a modem connection sound? Terribad.)

How does this work? It’s the “NES Club” yet they play Virtua Fighter and have posters of Sega games and mascots. Wha?! I remember my childhood– Nintendo and Sega fanboys were vicious back then! It was even worse than the Modern Warfare slash Battlefield rivalry of today… Nintendo had Zelda and Mario and Sega had Sonic and all his wonderful furry friends… friends that made each and every Sonic game a joy to play.

I don’t like the new villain of Ben-to. One, the show doesn’t need a villain. It just makes things seem even more ridiculous– especially if wolves aren’t supposed to help each other, how can an organization of “wolves” exist that help each other? Two, half-priced bentos might be serious enough business for high school kids and college students to fight over, but I can’t imagine businessmen going, “Hey, my stocks are doing okay– I think I’ll browbeat some poor 15 year old over discounted chicken curry!” Three, the show is at its best with the girls fighting amongst each other. It’s not at its best when we get Satou pummeled to death as Sen looks longingly. Just not right.

“Yes! I teem with youth!”

Erection jokes either support themselves or they fall flat. This one… wasn’t bad. I liked how Satou suddenly fantasizing about some married MILF while surrounded by nubile haremettes that he doesn’t fantasize about.

Seems like the worst threesome pairing in Fate/zero. Poor Lancer. His lance isn’t going to be fully utilized here, if you know what I mean.

No wonder Archer is bored. Tousaka-papa just sits in his parent’s basement listening to old Kenny G records.

(No Iskandar this episode?! What? It’s like having an episode of Penguindrum without “Seizon senryaku!” or Ben-to without Ume. Oh wait, this episode didn’t have Ume or Ume Sparkling Time. Sad face.)

Nothing I enjoy more to a quick cut of Himari screaming, “Seizon senryaku!” as Rock Over Japan thumps in the background. Except when the sequence goes to full completion with Himari (or Princess of the Crystal or whatever) rips off the clothes in the most modest manner possible. The OTL after Kanba sees his sister nakkid is pretty great too.

“Let’s revolutionize the world.”

If Kunihiko Ikuhara can re-use lines and scenary from Utena, I want Gen Urobuchi to work in a, “Do you want to be a magical girl?” the next time Saber and Caster face off.

9 Responses to “fate/zero 6, ben-to 5, and penguindrum 17”

If it cannot hatch from its shell, the chick will die without ever truly being born. We are the chick; the world is our egg. If we don’t break the world’s shell, we will die without truly being born. Smash the world’s shell, for the Revolution of the World!

mmm, yeah the ArcherxKirei scene was preeetty intense. All it needed was Kirei getting frustrated and snapping up Archer by his lithe wrists and…ok I’ll stop there ;p. I’m definitely enjoying this show 10x more then the Fate/stay anime.

I admit to rewinding several times during the Irisviel Dorifto scene to try and figure out what kind of car was before they finally gave it away with a stopped wide shot. Then again, I like to car-hunt in my anime — Batou’s techno-Stratos in GITS:SAC, the eleventy-billion Datsun Roadsters in Bakemonogatari, etc…

2. No way Archibald or Lancer are dead yet. Gen Urobuchi doesn’t have the balls to kill off a major player this soon, which is a same because you gotta take chances to be a great series. Killing off a favorite early would have been awesome– and I did expect Tousaka-papa to bite it by now.

Kinda spoils it when they have Lancer’s lines in the next episode teaser.